Tribal Consultations
Brockington and Associates began Tribal Consultations with a complex, nationally controversial project, the proposed Eisenhower Parkway Extension highway in Macon. The proposed road would cross areas of former Indian agricultural fields, known as the "Ocmulgee Old Fields." Creek and Seminole tribes stated that this area should be considered a Traditional Cultural Property. The Federal Highway Administration agreed and borders were proposed. The Keeper of the National Register agreed that the district was eligible as a TCP, but urged the FHWA to sponsor consultations with tribes to help determine appropriate borders. We were engaged by Georgia DOT and the FHWA as part of an Environmental Impact Study to facilitate these consultations and develop a formal Determination of Eligibility document.
Consultations were extensive and thorough. Although 15 federally recognized tribes were contacted, five tribes expressed strong interest and continued consultations over several years. Other tribes kept abreast of the consultations but were not active participants. Consultations included visits to the project area, discussions of tribal history and concerns, examination of plants of cultural importance. We planned and facilitated these trips and meetings, including follow up briefings of federal and state agencies. We also arranged and facilitated trips to Oklahoma to visit the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Kialege Tribal Town, and Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town.
The First Traditional Cultural Property in the East
After over a year of meetings and oral interviews, extensive historical and ethnographic research, and close agency coordination, we developed a proposed set of boundaries. These were submitted to the Keeper by FHWA. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town objected, as did the National Park Service; these tribes and the NPS wanted the TCP to be larger than proposed. Several local businesses and landowners also objected to the Keeper, advocating removal of their property from the TCP. We worked with the Keeper and her staff, and she made a final decision, creating the first Traditional Cultural Property recognized in the eastern United States.
Consultations with tribes continued for over a year regarding ranking of road alternatives within the TCP, assessment of impacts, and discussion of possible mitigation measures. Several tribes took the position that all alternatives crossing the TCP were equally bad, and there was little interest in detailed discussion of impacts or mitigation measures. After many months of impasse FHWA and GDOT have restarted consultations.
This was the first major Tribal Consultation effort in the Southeast, and many lessons were learned. Georgia DOT, FHWA, and the Georgia State Historic Preservation Office have developed close relationships with tribes and now work routinely with them (although they don't always agree). Although we were not able to facilitate a complete solution to the issues of this project, we were pleased to help in the process of developing these long term working relationships.
Reaching Conclusions All Parties Feel Are Successful
Since this beginning, Brockington and Associates has carried out a number of large and small consultation projects, all of which have reached conclusions which all parties feel were successful. These include nationally prominent consultations at Ft. Benning, Georgia regarding a land exchange with the City of Columbus; and the South Lawrence Trafficway project near Haskell Indian Nations University, where we designed a consultation program that worked with over 500 tribes throughout the nation. We have organized consultation meetings for Navy bases, National Guard installations, and the Corps of Engineers.
We now work closely with over 20 tribes; we have visited most of them at their tribal headquarters; many official tribal representatives have visited our offices. We have held consultations concerning repatriation and reburial of remains in our offices. We have been invited by tribes to make presentations at national and regional Indian conferences, including the National NAGPRA Summit in Oklahoma City, Five Tribes cultural committee meetings in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and United Southern and Eastern Tribes meetings in Washington, D.C. We greatly enjoy working with these peoples, and we appreciate the perspectives they bring to understandings of history and archaeology in America.
Dr. Tom Whitley and Mr. Sequoya Guess of the United Keetoowah Band of Indians discuss preservation of a Native American site area at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Ms. Rena Duncan, representing The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, continues consultations with Mayor Bobby Peters (left) and City Manager Carmen Cavezza during the Ft. Benning and City of Columbus meetings.
